25 October 2015•Update: 28 October 2015
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
Tensions threatened to rise again on the Korean Peninsula with Sunday’s revelation that the South Korean Navy had fired warning shots at a trespassing North Korean patrol vessel.
While not unusual in the context of the Koreas’ fiercely-guarded western maritime border, the incident happened at the same time as ongoing reunions involving hundreds of divided relatives from both sides at a North Korean mountain resort -- a key outcome of August’s breakthrough inter-Korean cooperation deal.
Seoul might be hoping to arrange more gatherings for thousands of other family members separated before and during the 1950-53 Korean War, but the South’s military was not afraid to risk provoking North Korea over the alleged encroachment of its boat by several hundred meters Saturday afternoon.
The vessel retreated nearly 20 minutes after machine gun rounds were fired at around 3:30 p.m. (0630GMT), local news agency Yonhap reported, quoting a South Korean official as insisting that “there was no violent clash during the warning process.”
There may have been no reported injuries, but North Korea’s state-run media claimed that the vessel had stayed within its waters and accused Seoul of carrying out a “military provocation.”
Seoul and Pyongyang never agreed a peace treaty after reaching a cease-fire in 1953, but matters have since been exacerbated along their western maritime border as the North and South have a different view on its actual position.
As a result, the area has seen several clashes in recent years -- including North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 and the sinking of a South Korean naval ship in the same year.
